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you are a liberal or conservative over a certain age, you will recall
Richard Hofstadter's The
Paranoid Style in American Politics. Hofstadter argued,
in 1954, that the "pseudo-conservative revolt" of that
era was produced by "status aspirations and frustrations"
projected into political life: "In the minds of the status-driven
. . . it is really something to be more patriotic than Dean Acheson
or John Foster Dulles — or Franklin Delano Roosevelt."
Hofstadter's
analysis was most unfair to conservatives (hence its continued popularity
in political-science classrooms) but "status anxiety"
could serve as a useful description of the state of mind of the
average liberal multiculturalist, circa 2001. Today, advocates of
multicultural ideology enjoy the psychic benefits and derivative
status of looking down their nose at Christopher Columbus.
Denver, Colorado,
this weekend will be home to a series of anti-Columbus events, including
an "All Nations/Four Directions March" on Saturday Oct.
6th and a "Day of Spiritual Unity" at the State Capitol
on Sunday, October 7th. The event was organized by the Transform
Columbus Day Alliance and their membership
list is full of the usual "hate America" crowd.
Now Christopher
Columbus was by no means a perfect man. But his failings, both real
and imagined, are not the reason for the teeth-gritting contempt
of multiticulturalism advocates. Because Columbus existed, he stands
as a rebuke to the major tenets of the multiculturalist ideology.
Consider the
comments in support of the anti-Columbus events from F
d A Hamburg/Germany Federation of German Speaking Anarchists - Hamburg
branch:
This celebration
accepts Columbus as the discoverer of the Americas, and this reflects
a Eurocentric concept of viewing this world which neglects the
existance [sic] of all indigenous nations and their rights to
their home and therefore supports the concept of white superiority
and supremacy. It further intends to make believe that the presence
of Europeans is necessary to bring an area into existence.
The long and
short of this is that Columbus, and by inclusion, the United States
and even Western Civilization itself, matter only as an affront
to the self-esteem of other nations and peoples.
Furthermore,
since Columbus also demonstrated how much one determined individual
can accomplish, he also stands as a personal rebuke to the multiculturalist
ethos which holds that there is no such thing as individual accomplishment.
Now this kind
of thinking, even when confined to the ivory tower, has potentially
ugly consequences. If any group of people are taught that their
poverty and misery were intentionally produced by the actions of
outsiders, this is not likely to increase mutual understanding.
America is
a place where free speech, however misguided, is protected by our
Constitution. Columbus won't mind what people say about him. But
teachers in Denver and elsewhere would do well to pass on a kind
word about his achievements to their students. After all, teaching
them that bravery and determination can make their dreams come true
is a valuable lesson indeed.
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